More Mail from Abroad

In my previous entry I wrote about the postcard which I received from England on Tuesday.  Well, yesterday I had another surprise in the mail.  When I went outside to do some gardening, I discovered that there was a package at my doorstep.  It was from my cousin Brigitta in Switzerland.  The gardening could wait.  I immediately brought the package into the house to see what it contained.

Brigitta had sent me a Swiss cookbook (fortunately in English), and a couple bars of chocolate from two of Switzerland's major chocolatiers... Lindt and Cailler.  Yum! (I have to admit that one of the bars has already been devoured.)

I have taken a look at the cookbook, and quite a few of the recipes have ingredients that I doubt that I could find here.  I don't think my local supermarket sells quail, and many of the sausages and cheeses from Switzerland probably have no close subsitutes here.  And what the heck is this "full fat quark" that appears in a number of the recipes?!   I will have to investigate which kinds of potatoes are considered "waxy" as opposed to "floury" (starchy?).  Nevertheless, there are quite a few recipes which sound very tasty which I think I would be able to make.  I definitely could handle one of Switzerland's best known dishes, "rösti", which is similar to our hash browns.

My thanks go out to my dear, thoughtful cousin, Brigitta.  I treasure my Swiss family!